BOB HIGGINS VRP
FremantleMedia Enterprises adds talent to newly created children’s division.
25 Jan, 2010: FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) announced today the appointment of Bob Higgins to the post of Senior Vice President, Children’s & Family Entertainment, the newest FME division which launched in October 2009 to concentrate on developing kids content through their global licensing and distribution operations. Higgins will be based in New York and reporting to Sander Schwartz who was named EVP, Head of Children and Family Entertainment in October last year.
Higgins joins the company immediately and will work closely with Schwartz to plan and execute the overall creative vision for FME’s children’s business whilst managing content, including acquisitions, development and sales of both television and digital programming on a global basis. He will work closely with producers, third parties and broadcasters to deliver exciting and innovative content with strong commercial potential across a range of revenue streams. He will also work very closely with FME’s well-established global network of sales, licensing and marketing executives for optimum client and brand management.
Schwartz commented, “My first task when joining FME was to start building my dream team and Bob was a natural choice for this role, he has an impeccable track record in the kids’ content business. Over the years Bob has been responsible for developing several ground-breaking series and we’re looking forward to working together on many more under the FME banner. ”
Prior to FME, Higgins was Chief Creative Officer for US multi-media company Wildbrain Inc. where he oversaw production for ratings hit Yo Gabba Gabba and assembled a slate of properties including HBO’s upcoming The Ricky Gervais Show, on which he serves as an Executive Producer, Team Smithereen , Asher Roth’s I Love College , Go Figure and more. Before that Higgins held senior programming and creative positions at the Cartoon Network, Classic Media, Inc, Sony Pictures Family Entertainment and Nelvana Communications.
http://www.xmedialab.com/mentor/bob-higgins
BOB HIGGINS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHILDRENS & FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
Longtime champion of children’s programming and an esteemed veteran of the entertainment industry, Higgins is Senior Vice President, Children’s & Family Entertainment, Freemantle Media.
Prior to Freemantle Media, Bob was Creative Director at Wildbrain Enteretainment, and SVP, Programming and Development for Cartoon Network’s kids businesses, where he managed CN’s development, production and programming departments, oversaw new original animated series, shorts, Cartoon Network features and specials. He also supervised acquisition for Cartoon Network US, both international and domestic off-net kids’ programming, including anime series and theatrical feature films. Among many accomplishments during his tenure with the network, Higgins oversaw the development, production and launch of a number of hit series, including Chowder, Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends, My Gym Partner’s A Monkey and Camp Lazlo. He was also Executive Producer on feature film, Underdog.
Prior to CN, Higgins was SVP and Executive Producer for Classic Media, Inc. in New York. Prior to that, Higgins served as SVP of Creative Affairs for Sony Pictures Family Entertainment (SPFE), VP of Creative Affairs at Columbia TriStar Television Children’s Programming and acted as Director of Development at Nelvana Communications
http://summit.kidscreen.com/2011/speakers.html?a=508171
Excerpt: A longtime champion of children’s programming, Higgins joined FremantleMedia Enterprises in January 2010 as Senior Vice President of Children’s & Family Entertainment. Higgins oversees the creative direction for FME’s kid’s business, as well as manage content, including acquisitions, development and sales of TV and digital programming worldwide. Higgins is currently Executive Producing My Babysitter’s a Vampire with Fresh TV and Teletoon, and Monsuno with Jakks Pacific and Dentsu.
Groundbreaking animated comedy set for CBBC
Wednesday 22nd June 2011 @ 6:18pm by Aaron
http://www.comedy.co.uk/news/story/00000568/new_animated_comedy_cbbc_strange_hill_high/
CBBC and FremantleMedia have announced the production of a brand new comedy series for children, Strange Hill High.
Created by Bermondsey-based Yoshimi & Katoi, the 13-part BBC One series will be produced using a new proprietary process dubbed “hypervynorama”, which combines puppetry with computer graphics to achieve what is described as “real time animation”, akin to “Aardman meets Team America”. Each of the 22-minute episodes will be its own “mini blockbuster movie”.
Described by production company Yoshimi & Katoi as “Grange Hill meets The Muppets in South Park”, Strange Hill High is set in a near-forgotten inner-city school where strange is normal. The show follows three friends who take it upon themselves to investigate their school’s paranormal, mysterious and other-worldly occurrences.
Mitchell Tanner is the new kid at school. His mum is a single parent and he is really hoping for an ordinary life and to not get in any trouble after a couple of false starts at pervious schools… the only problem is, Strange Hill High is far from an ordinary school, so an ordinary life is hardly on the cards. Due to his past, Mitchell has a lot of time for life’s underdogs, so makes friends with Becky Butters (an over-confident under-achiever) and class nerd Templeton.
Writing on the series is being headed by Josh Weinstein, a former executive producer and writer of The Simpsons and Futurama. Emma Kennedy, Ben Teasdale, Georgia Pritchett and two American writers are scripting the show. Filming is set to begin later this year.
Emma Kennedy, speaking to the British Comedy Guide, said: “I can honestly say, I have NEVER been more excited about a project. The puppets look incredible and even though it’s a show primarily aimed at children it’s very clear from the work shop days we’ve done already that it’s going to have the same sort of appeal as Simpsons/South Park/Family Guy. It’s extremely ambitious. I think it has the potential to be huge.”
She added: “The innovative twist is that the animation is going to be done in real time – think Team America – so we’ve essentially been briefed to write as if we’re working on an action packed blockbuster movie rather than a 24 minute children’s animated comedy.”
The series’ unique look has been designed by Yoshimi & Katoi, with Manchester’s Mackinnon And Saunders, a world-leader in puppetry and animation, producing a number of the puppets. The company’s work can be seen in productions as diverse as Mars Attacks!, Bob The Builder, The Corpse Bride and Rastamouse.
CBBC’s Sarah Muller said: “Strange Hill High is quite literally an extraordinary show and I haven’t seen anything quite like it before. It’s quirky, contemporary and has big comedy ambitions with, we hope, a totally unique look and style.”
Bob Higgins at Fremantle noted: “Strange Hill High is a rollercoaster ride of fun. With great characters, outrageous stories and a completely original, mind-blowing look, I think kids around the globe are going to wish their own schools were this absurdly entertaining.”
The TV series is described as a “multi-media” production, with Fremantle looking to cover numerous fields with the show, including computer games, mobile applications, and a significant web presence, plus toy ranges and live events.
Hypervynorama was developed in-house by Yoshimi & Katoi, who described the process to us: “The show is made with rod puppets and old school ‘in-camera’ trickery. It’s being shot 1/6th scale (Wallace & Gromit size) with absolutely everything being built and controlled by hand – no CG whatsoever.
“That said, all of the mouth movements and eyes are put on in post-production, so we actually have to animate each scene twice using two completely different techniques… this is going to be a very complex show to make!”
Broadcast is tentatively scheduled for September 2012.
Fresh TV And FremantleMedia Enterprises Partner On My Babysitter’s A Vampire
Excerpt: “Bob Higgins, Senior Vice President of FME’s Children and Family Entertainment division said, “My Babysitter’s A Vampire is the perfect live-action series to add to our portfolio as we continue building this division. The franchise potential is tremendous and the originality of the show raises the bar with the ever-evolving vampire genre. We are particularly excited to be working with the tremendously creative folks at Fresh TV and look forward to bringing the project to family audiences next year.”
My Babysitter’s A Vampire is a fun, family-friendly teen adventure-comedy that takes a bite out of pop culture phenomena like Twilight, and horror movies in general. The series will continue to follow the geeky and sci-fi loving 14-year-old Ethan (Matthew Knight: Flashpoint, The Grudge 2) and his uber geeky best pals Benny (Atticus Mitchell: How to be Indie) and recent vampire recruit, Rory (Cameron Kennedy: Toronto Stories and The Latest Buzz) as they defend their town against an avalanche of scary supernatural phenomena. With the help of Ethan’s smokin’ hot babysitter Sarah (Vanessa Morgan: Harriet the Spy, The Latest Buzz) a fledgling vampire, and her BFF Erica (Kate Todd: Cashing In, Life with Derek), also recently recruited to the dark side, Ethan and his gang will come face-to-face with the netherworld of vampires, werewolves and spirit creatures.”
Chatham Dad Produces Disney TV Film
Bob Higgins produced “My Babysitter’s a Vampire,” which premieres on The Disney Channel on Friday.
http://chatham.patch.com/articles/chatham-dad-produces-disney-tv-film
Chatham resident Bob Higgins works as an executive television producer for Fremantle Media. One year after being nominated for his production work on “The Ricky Gervais Show,” Higgins is now preparing for the television premiere of “My Babysitter’s a Vampire,” airing Friday on The Disney Channel.
The series, taken from the Canadian television film from 2010, “My Babysitter’s a Vampire” is a comedic spin on pop culture vampire movies about three teens who discover their babysitter is a vampire, and have to save the town.
The series premiers Friday at 7 p.m. The idea for the film was generated by Fresh TV and Disney Channel will have a summer series premiering June 27 at 7 p.m.
Higgins said, “I love how this movie and series turned out. The team at Fresh [TV] put a fun, irreverent spin on a genre that has been getting a lot of play in the adult television space, but no one has yet done for kids and tweens.”
When asked what he liked best about the idea, Higgins said, “Kids love to be scared and this is just the right level of scary for them. It’s also very funny and has great characters and a great story, and I think parents will like it too.”
The trailer for this film is available for viewing on YouTube.